The Story and the Music
Jab Molassie is a staged music-theatre performance piece intended for a small cast of performers: two security guards, the male and female voices of Jab Molassie, Starboy and the silent dance role of a Carnival queen. The instrumentation of the small ensemble consists of clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, trombone, two percussion, double-seconds steelpan, violin and double bass.
Set in the windy hills of Laventille, two school Security Guards, a man and woman, narrate the tale of Starboy, a gifted musician with a bright future who unwittingly sells his soul, represented by his music, to Jab Molassie, also played by male and female performers. Imagining that in exchange for his instrument he will gain all the riches promised to him by Jab, Starboy cannot predict the heavy price he will pay for this exchange. Nor does he imagine that he will be lost forever… or will he be?
Natalia Dopwell, left, and Roger Roberts, right, performed the female and male roles of the character Jab Molassie at the World Premiere of "Jab Molassie" at the Little Carib Theatre, Port of Spain, Trinidad, November 6-9, 2014
The Creation and Development of Jab Molassie
Jab Molassie is a Trinidad & Tobago adaptation of Igor Stravinsky’s internationally renowned The Soldier’s Tale. The script was first written by Caitlyn Kamminga in 2010 who was soon after introduced to Dominique Le Gendre. It was not long before collaboration was on the cards to bring Kamminga's brainchild to the stage through Le Gendre's music.
The creation and development of Jab Molassie then took place over a two year period culminating in two workshops in January and June 2013. Workshops in the context of this production were intense working sessions for the composer, director, librettist, musicians and cast which enabled the composer and librettist hear the work come to life for the first time. With the input of the musicians and performers, refinements were made which have impacted on the staged performance.
These workshops were also essential to the development of this new work and benefitted UTT students through apprenticeships and understudy roles inclusive of credit applicable in their degree programme. Also during the workshop stage Jab Molassie successfully brought together accomplished artists from Trinidad & Tobago in collaboration with counterparts from Jamaica, United Kingdom, United States and Macedonia.
The creation and development of Jab Molassie then took place over a two year period culminating in two workshops in January and June 2013. Workshops in the context of this production were intense working sessions for the composer, director, librettist, musicians and cast which enabled the composer and librettist hear the work come to life for the first time. With the input of the musicians and performers, refinements were made which have impacted on the staged performance.
These workshops were also essential to the development of this new work and benefitted UTT students through apprenticeships and understudy roles inclusive of credit applicable in their degree programme. Also during the workshop stage Jab Molassie successfully brought together accomplished artists from Trinidad & Tobago in collaboration with counterparts from Jamaica, United Kingdom, United States and Macedonia.
The home page image and the one above are both of Renaldo Constantine of the Paramin based blue devil band 2001 Jab Molassies. Used with permission. Photographs © Maria Nunes
Arts Education
Art cannot solve problems, but it can make us aware of their existence. Arts education, on the other hand, does solve problems. The research shows that it's closely associated to almost everything that we expect from our schools: academic achievement, social and emotional development, civic engagement, and equitable opportunity.
The creative team behind Jab Molassie is committed to education based on arts integration and has envisaged the work not only as a piece of art that is entertaining, but also as a portable work suitable for secondary school students across Trinidad and Tobago.
A music education pack that makes the piece accessible to schools, children, young people and teachers will be offered alongside performances and workshops. The study guides were created by arts education specialist, Deborah Moore, a percussionist and workshop leader for the Kennedy Center, Washington, DC.
The creative team behind Jab Molassie is committed to education based on arts integration and has envisaged the work not only as a piece of art that is entertaining, but also as a portable work suitable for secondary school students across Trinidad and Tobago.
A music education pack that makes the piece accessible to schools, children, young people and teachers will be offered alongside performances and workshops. The study guides were created by arts education specialist, Deborah Moore, a percussionist and workshop leader for the Kennedy Center, Washington, DC.
UTT student Shurvone Brathwaithe (right) was the understudy to Dominique Le Gendre, composer/musical director, in the two week workshop of the complete work held in Trinidad May 27-June 8, 2013
